After a hard-fought, 95-92 victory over the Indiana Pacers, the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-26) took one step closer to their ultimate goal by clinching a spot in the 2015 NBA Playoffs. It is the first time since the 2009-10 season that the Cavaliers have clinched a postseason berth.

Of course the Cavaliers have more loftier goals than just reaching the postseason, but LeBron James noted during his post-game interview that for guys who have never made the playoffs such as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. When asked about clinching a postseason berth, James said, "It is a huge accomplishment for our team."

The way things in the Eastern Conference are shaping up, the Cavaliers will more than likely end up with the second seed. Their opponent however is not set in stone yet. Currently the Miami Heat hold the seventh seed in the East, but Boston and Indiana sit just two games back of the Heat. Securing the two seed in the East means the Cavaliers will have home court advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.

After a hard-fought, 95-92 victory over the Indiana Pacers, the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-26) took one step closer to their ultimate goal by clinching a spot in the 2015 NBA Playoffs. It is the first time since the 2009-10 season that the Cavaliers have clinched a postseason berth.

Of course the Cavaliers have more loftier goals than just reaching the postseason, but LeBron James noted during his post-game interview that for guys who have never made the playoffs such as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. When asked about clinching a postseason berth, James said, "It is a huge accomplishment for our team."

The way things in the Eastern Conference are shaping up, the Cavaliers will more than likely end up with the second seed. Their opponent however is not set in stone yet. Currently the Miami Heat hold the seventh seed in the East, but Boston and Indiana sit just two games back of the Heat. Securing the two seed in the East means the Cavaliers will have home court advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Photo Gallery:

Cavs come up short on Christmas Day

By: Robbie DiPaola

Christmas Day was a different one for the Cleveland Cavaliers and especially forward LeBron James, who made his first return to Miami since he left to come back to Northeast Ohio in July.

James received a relatively warm reception from the Miami fans, with only a smattering of negative jeers.

Once the game started, the Cavs started very slow, while the Heat came out energized and ready to play. The return of James seemed to inspire the Heat to play at a high level.

Miami got big contributions from Dwyane Wade, who scored 31 points and recorded five assists and Luol Deng who scored 25 points and also recorded eight rebounds and eight assists.

The Cavs turned around their slow start but cutting a 13 point halftime deficient to just three points by the end of the third quarter, thanks in large part James and Kyrie Irving, who were the two high scorers for the Cavs.

Unfortunately for the Cavs, their rally came up short as the Heat pulled away late in the 4th quarter to secure a 101-91 victory.

For the Cavs, this loss dropped their record to 17-11 on the year, and for many worry is starting to take over, especially after the loss of Anderson Varejao for the season.

The schedule will not get easier for the Cavs as they have an upcoming west coast trip, where they will face some of the top tier teams in the Western Conference.

Only time will tell about how the Cavs will fare, they will have to overcome a huge loss of losing Varejao. This will be the true test of how good the Cavs really are.

Cavs Recent Game Results:

March 12 @ Spurs - 128-125 - W

March 15 @ Magic - 123-108 - W

March 16 @ Miami - 106-92 - L

March 18 vs. Brooklyn - 117-92 - W

March 20 vs. Indiana - 95-92 - W

March 22 @ Milwaukee - 108-90 - W

Cavaliers player statistics through (3-24-15)

LeBron James: 25.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7.3 assists

Kyrie Irving: 21.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists

Kevin Love: 16.5 points, 10.1 rebounds

J.R. Smith: 13.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals

Timofey Mozgov: 10.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.4 blocks

Tristan Thompson: 8.6 points, 7.9 rebounds

Iman Shumpert: 6.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.3 steal

Photo courtesy of cavs.com

Above is the full 2014-15 Cleveland Cavaliers regular season schedule.

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